Conveyors for transporting rolls of toilet paper, paper towels for personal and/or general household use, packs of paper napkins, tissues and the like are known which comprise one or more conveyor belts, in particular of a mobile type, for transporting the product between one or more pickup and/or release points.
Generally speaking, these prior art conveyors comprise a mounting frame for the respective conveyor belt which comprises a frame for supporting an endless band which transports the product and which runs on corresponding guide and slide means.
Particularly in dusty production environments, such as those where paper rolls or tissues are processed, paper dust and residue tend to accumulate under the endless bands and between the rollers on which the bands run. This leads to problems with belt operation as a result of added friction and loss of conveyor flatness and consequent risks of the products falling off the conveyor.
To overcome these problems in prior art conveyors, the rollers of the conveyor frame must be disassembled using specific keys and screwdrivers and involving time-consuming and painstaking work for the personnel in charge of the operations.
In practice, these cleaning or maintenance operations are postponed as much as possible, with consequent malfunctioning of the conveyors for extended lengths of time.
These problems are felt particularly strongly in the tissue paper field, where the paper processed to make rolls of toilet paper or paper towels, paper napkins and tissues for personal or general household use produces considerable amounts of dust and residues which find their way insidiously into every gap and space in the processing machines and equipment, particularly in the conveying systems.
Replacing worn rollers on which the band runs is another time-consuming and troublesome task.
Indeed, in such cases, too, the roller to be replaced has to be removed using specific tools, in particular, keys and screwdrivers, to disengage the roller from the conveyor and put a new one in its place on the conveyor.